Your Letters (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Your Letters

Visit to town was marred by dog mess

I write after a Christmas visit to my cousin in Silsden – a wonderful little town with incredible facilities – an idyllic place to live, you may think.

However, I was left extremely appalled and saddened by the amount of dog mess throughout the town.

We went to the tennis courts to test out my nephew’s new bike. Even though there are two large signs stating ‘Dogs Not Allowed’, there was a teenage girl walking a huge white husky-type dog and allowed it to defecate near the fence. She did not clean it up and, when challenged, just said she didn’t have a bag. I walked around the courts and noted at least another six piles of dog mess.

We walked through the park to where all the ducks gather next the Post Office. The walk with three small children was difficult as there was dog mess all over the place, even in the middle of the footbridge that leads to Wesley Place near the church. The lane from Wesley Place alongside the river is like a minefield with some enormous piles of dog mess.

We stopped at the area designated for young children. Due to the bad design of the gates, they were open and running freely inside were two Staffordshire-type terriers. We decided not to stay as there was also a considerable amount of dog mess in the vicinity.

This is a small park in a small town but the amount of dog mess beggars belief! I have never witnessed anything like this. If these people were prosecuted, the message may spread. It wouldn’t cost the earth to post a couple of dog wardens or park rangers in plain clothes in this park for a few days.

Martin Gillespie, Aberdeen

No plans for festive refuse collection?

As a member of Bradford Council, I hope that residents had a Merry Christmas and wish them a Happy New Year, while starting the year with a rare apology on behalf of the Council.

This year, both Christmas and New Year’s Day fell on a Tuesday, which is the day that my neighbours and I have our refuse collected.

It would appear that despite both these holidays falling on the same day of consecutive weeks, the Council had no plan in place to deal with missed refuse collections, unless you consider waiting three weeks for your bin emptying to be a good plan.

While this would be less than ideal at any time, the festive season is more problematic, as most households have much more waste to dispose of.

In light of my own experience, I would like to apologise to those affected, in the Council’s absence of strategic thinking.

Personally I would have thought that the Council had enough time to implement a strategy to see our bins emptied and I can only apologise while sharing residents’ exasperation at the situation.

COUNCILLOR GLEN MILLER, Leader of the Conservative Group (and resident of Shann Park, Keighley)

Fuel poverty figures just don’t add up

Fuel poverty is a problem for a good many folk, but not to the extent of 46 per cent of household income – Fuel poverty map figures ‘shocking’ (Keighley News, January 3).

On the face of it, the figure is absurd, and you would do well to flesh the argument out with actual amounts rather than percentages.

Consider – the Liberal Democrats are of the opinion OAPs with incomes above £150 per week do not deserve their winter fuel allowance, so by definition must be comfortably off. If 46 per cent of £150 is £69, this is £3,588 a year.

But no OAP in their right mind would contemplate spending anything like that sum on fuel, leaving precious little for the other necessities of life, such as rent, council tax and food – say £100, £20 and £30 weekly. Oh dear, something wrong with that calculation as it adds up to £150, leaving absolutely nothing for fuel, let alone clothing, transport, etc.

Roger Chapman, Marley

Prominence should be given to waterfall

I watched Countryfile about Haworth and the Brontes last week and noticed an omission.

It was also omitted in your review of the programme – TV spotlight on museum and famous moors (Keighley News, January 3).

However, in your article ‘Focus on world of the Brontes’ it appeared – the Bronte Waterfall. If my memory of what I was told during my years in Keighley is correct, there was a legend/folklore that the sisters used to sit there reflecting on life and, no doubt, getting ideas about the subjects for their novels. It must indeed have been a very lonely, isolated and desolate place, giving the sisters much material on which to base their own lives and literary matter.

I feel more prominence should be given to the waterfall. It is an integral part of the scenarios of the bleakness and romance of the novels. Hardly any writers etc on the Brontes ever mention it.

Bill Place, Cornfield Avenue, Huddersfield

Tories bringing the country back in line

Ian Nichol attacks our MP and the Government – Seasonal message was ‘disingenuous’ (Keighley News, January 3).

What he does not say is the current difficult economic situation is as a direct result of the disastrous policies of the previous Labour government.

Socialists always spend more than their income. The Labour governments of 1945-51, 1974-9 and 1997-2010 always left the country in a parlous state. The current Government will pull the country back on an even keel, as it has done in the past.

It is to be hoped the electorate will remember, when the time comes, the incompetence of Messrs Blair, Brown, Milliband and Balls left an appalling legacy, and having borrowed their way into difficulties, think even more borrowing is the solution. Do they never learn?

Gerry Yates, Keighley

Some pay their dues more than others

After hearing Prime Minister David Cameron say that should he make the bankers and businessmen pay their dues, they will leave the country.

Well, good riddance is what I say.

If that’s the case, then it’s fair to say Cameron and co can do without doctors, nurses, carers who look after the elderly, teachers, librarians, coal miners, refuse collectors and street cleaners, to mention just a small section of workers who pay their dues in full.

But he can’t do without benefit cheats, tax dodgers and neer-do-wells – in short, bankers, businessmen – and MPs.

Ashley Forsyth, Keighley